Poison Doesn't Always Have to Hurt
by TeliTuxedo
Summary: When her childhood home is completely destroyed, Skylar doesn't have anywhere to go but forward. She continues on her exciting journey, but what is in store for her and her best friend?


The soft droplets of rain falling onto the trees create a beautiful song of soft taps and nudges. As I walk through the forest, only a few lucky drops of rain make it through the thick cover of trees. Mareanie moves around on my shoulder and nudges my head to the right. She wants to go that way, but I know we can't.

"No Mareanie, if we go that way we won't make it home in time." I hear a soft mumble from Mareanie, but she doesn't complain any longer. "Come on, I bet I can make it home before you." I try to provoke her so we can get home faster, but she doesn't say anything. I sigh and then break into a sprint.

"MAREANIE!" She screams in surprise. I can feel her tense on my shoulder. "Mareanie!" She yells in protest.

"I told you, we need to get home in time! You don't want to be outside in the dark! You know that Mareanie!" I shout as I run through the trees. She grumbles and I chuckle to myself. I know she's angry at me, but she's always angry at me for something. Might as well be something that I did on purpose. "You can go back in your pokeball if you want!" I add jokingly. I slow down to a walk.

"Mareanie!" She grumbles.

"Yeah I know. You don't like your pokeball. I was joking. You weird little pokemon." I turn my head and give her a sarcastic look. I can see her joking glare, even with the little light provided by the setting sun through the thick cover of trees. I love Mareanie, and I can't wait to see her when she evolves. Suddenly I hear a stick snap in the distance.

"Mareanie. Mareanie!" She says in a quiet voice.

"Oh shut up. Since when did you become concerned about getting home on time?" I cross my arms and try to be cool, but I'm shaking as well. She looks around with terrified eyes.

"Mareanie." She's whispering now. "Mareanie!" She yells in my ear. I bolt in the direction of my house and hear that someone is following us. The only thing that matters now is trying to get home before whatever, or whoever, is following us catches us. I hear my name called from behind me. How do they know my name? It doesn't matter now, I can see my home glowing with light in the distance. The forest thins out as I get closer to my house and the flatter ground is easier to run on.

The moment I reach my house, I rip open the door and slam it behind me. "Mareanie?" She asks.

"I think we're safe now. Just-" I stop after I hear three loud knocks behind me. There is a pause, and then the knocking resumes. It doesn't stop and it just gets louder and faster and with my back against the door I can feel it pounding through my heart. Suddenly it stops.

"Skylar let me in!" A muffled voice says through the door. "It's raining! I'm soaked!" I sigh and then turn around and slowly open the door. Standing there is my friend Robin, who is glaring at me and obviously soaked.

"I'm so sorry so sorry so sorry so sorry-" I start to say speedily.

"Shut up and let me in!" She forces her way past me and then stands in the hallway and shivers. "What's wrong with you?!" She yells. "I thought we were meeting in our usual spot in the forest. You weren't there and so I decided to make my way to your house. I finally found you and then you bolted for your house."Robin throws up her hands in exasperation.

"Mareanie told me that she thought she saw someone suspicious behind us, and then you stepped on something and I got scared. I thought you were someone trying to like, kill me or something. Besides, it's Mareanie's fault for telling me you were someone suspicious. You know she doesn't like you. It's her fault." I cross my arms. Mareanie jumps off of my shoulder and then glares at Robin. I mentally face palm. I love Mareanie, but she can be mischievous and deceitful sometimes.

"You're lucky I don't just throw you out Mareanie. You know no one else would want a misbehaving pokemon like you." I spit out angrily. She looks up at me with her adorable eyes and frowns, trying to make me feel guilty. I sigh. It shouldn't work on me, but it does. I kneel down and look at her. "You lucky little pokemon." Robin sticks her tongue out at Mareanie. I look to Robin and stand up. "So I guess you're staying the night here?"

"Yeah, I mean, I've heard that it might rain all night. It's not safe to go outside right now. When I was chasing you, I felt the wind start to pick up. She shrugs off her pack and opens it up, revealing a set of pajamas and another set of clothes. "Good thing I'm prepared."

* * *

"How did you know to grab pajamas?" I say as I eat another bite of my piece of bread.

"Uhh, I really don't know." Robin mutters. "The same way I knew to grab a toothbrush and toothpaste and everything else I would need to stay the night at your house. Maybe, I knew it was going to rain, and my Mom is overprotective and insists that I bring everything I would need in a zombie apocalypse everywhere I go."

I chuckle softly. Robin's Mom is overprotective, even though she knows Robin can take care of herself just fine. Robin is the only girl in her family, and I think her Mom just wants her to be her perfect little girl forever.

She sits down at the table across from me, and a strand of her long, purple hair falls in front of her hair. She moves it out of her face. Her hair frames her bright green eyes perfectly, and tiny freckles spot her face. She's adorable, even if she doesn't believe it. My black shoulder-length hair and dark gray eyes cannot compete with her looks. Not now, any definitely not in the future.

"So, what do you want to do?" She asks, sounding bored.

"Are you seriously bored already? You haven't even been at my house for 30 minutes, and you're already bored." I reply.

"Oh shush, you would be bored 20 minutes ago if you were at my house. I was being patient."

"Yeah _sure_. You want to go out and like, dance in the rain or something?"

"Why would I want to do that?"

"Because you're bored, you don't have anything to do. Beggars can't be choosers."

"I'd rather not Skylar. I'm probably going to get sick already from standing outside in the rain because you wouldn't open the door for me, I shouldn't 'expose myself to the extreme cold' as my mother would say."

I laugh and then sigh. Mareanie is playing around with Oddish, Robin's pokemon, on the table. They're jumping around and then bumping into each other. Suddenly, Mareanie rams into Oddish, and he falls over on the table, looking angrily at Mareanie once he gets up.

"Hey! Mareanie! Be nice. You can stay up in my room if you want to be mean to Oddish. Or better yet, in your pokeball!" I tease.

"Mareanie! Mareanie Marea." She complains.

"Oh be quiet Mareanie. You know I have the right to do that and yes, I still know that you hate your pokeball." I look over to Robin, who has Oddish in her lap and is petting him on the head. "You're lucky Robin." I say.

"Why?" She asks, looking confused.

"Your pokemon is fine being in his pokeball. This one," I gesture to Mareanie. "has decided that she's going to hate her pokeball and never go into it ever again in her entire existence." I chuckle and there is a silence following it. It's a comfortable silence, and of course my little brother Dylan manages to ruin it.

"Skywuh Skywuh hep me I'm stuuuck!" I hear him scream from upstairs. I roll my eyes.

"Sorry, I got to go deal with _that_." I complain. Robin nods and then I run down the hallway and up the stairs where my brother's room is located. I open the door to see his leg stuck between his bedpost and his mattress, his brown eyes flooded with tears. "It huuuuuuwwwts Saaaaawuuuh heeeeeep meeee." I roll my eyes once again and then move forward and lift up his thin mattress so he can lift his small leg out and onto the ground. Once he pulls his leg out he jumps up and attempts to give me a hug, which results in a hug for my legs because he is so short.

"Faank you Skywuh! I wud have been stuck der fowevuh if you hadntuh helped me." He says as best as he can. I run my hand through his crazy brown hair to smooth it down.

"Hey, Dylan, how did you get yourself in that mess?" He looks over to the bed and then back at me.

"I dunno." He says with bright but confused eyes. I sigh.

"Fine then. Just don't do it again, okay?" I say. He nods, and I'm about to leave the room, but he stops me.

"Skywuh?" He asks.

"Yes, Dylan?"

"Can I go down wif you? I'm bowd wif my twains. I wanna pway wif Wobin and Maweani."

"Fine. Just, don't be rude or mess with anything. Got it?"

"Got it." He nods and reaches for my hand. I take his hand and we walk out the door. When we make it downstairs and into the kitchen Robin notices Dylan immediately. She gasps happily.

"Dylan! Hi! Come on and sit on my lap." She pats on her lap, inviting him to sit. He lets go of my hand and runs into her lap and she hugs him. "Awww, you're so cute Dylan! When did you get so tall?"

"Yestowday!" He exclaims happily. Robin laughs.

"Yesterday? Wow, well Skylar must have given you a lot of milk for you to have grown that much since I last saw you." They continue their conversation, and I walk over to the window that looks over the forest. It is pouring rain outside, and I'm glad that we got inside when we did. The pine trees are dancing violently with the wind, and I can see that some of the smaller ones have fallen already.

I just hope the old 'Grandpa' tree doesn't fall down tonight. It's a very old tree that died a long time ago, but even though some of it has decayed, it would destroy our house if it fell down tonight, and that would be devastating for me and Dylan.

I find myself mesmerized by the swirling and waving of the pine trees, and I'm stuck in a trance until Robin pulls me out of it.

"Whatcha' looking at Skylar?" She asks in a cheerful voice. I shake my head, still in a sort of daze.

"Just the trees. Look at how the wind is tossing them about. It's terrifying, but beautiful at the same time." I sigh happily. She chuckles.

"You think that that 'Grandpa tree is going to fall down tonight?" She teases.

"I hope not." I answer. "And if it does, I hope it falls in the opposite direction of this house. Now that would be cool."

* * *

I wake up to the loud sound of snoring. Dylan is sleeping to my right, and Robin to my left. We had gotten sleeping bags and other blankets to sleep on the floor because Dylan had been to scared to sleep alone, with the loud wind and rain. I had grudgingly agreed to sleep on the ground and now I'm paying for it. My side aches from sleeping on the tough ground.

I carefully slip out of my sleeping bag, and then stand up. I maneuver my way around my brother's sleeping body as to not wake him up, and I end up on the side of the room where I can escape to the kitchen to start cooking breakfast. Once I reach the kitchen, I open the fridge and grab the container of eggs.

In a few minutes, I have everything ready to start cooking breakfast and I'm about to put the eggs in the pan when I hear footsteps in the hallway.

I turn around with the pan in my hand and hold it out in front of me.

"Stop right there!" I exclaim. Robin is standing there with a surprised expression on her face, and it makes me chuckle slightly, but I continue on.

"And what is your business wondering around in the royal kitchen?" I gesture to the kitchen with my pan, and then point it back at her. She smirks.

"Forgive me your highness," She bows. "but I am merely a traveler, in hope for a bite to eat. After I heard of the generosity and wonderful food of Skylar, I had to come and taste this delicious food." I look at her with suspicious eyes.

"Are you sure you weren't trying to _poison_ the queen's meal?" I move closer to her and she backs away from me, pretending to be scared. She puts her hands up.

"I swear I had no ill intentions! Please, I only wish to have a taste of the food of which I have heard of!" I laugh.

"Fine then, sit and be fit, child." I point to a chair at the table and she sits down. "When did you and Dylan end up going to bed last night?" I ask while setting the pan on the stove.

"He was too tired to play with his trains much longer after you went to bed. I convinced him to got to bed about thirty minutes and he fell asleep really quickly."

"Good," I say quickly. "he doesn't usually stay up that late, and I want him to get as much sleep as-" A few loud thumps interrupt me, and I stop getting breakfast ready.

"Mareanie…" I hear from the hallway. I set down the egg I was about to crack and run to the hallway. Mareanie is laying sideways on the ground, a look of slight pain in her eyes.

"Mareanie!" I shout angrily as I pick her up. "What have I told you about going down the stairs without help?" She looks down sheepishly and mumbles. "Don't do it again, okay?" I set her on my shoulder and walk down the hallway to where Robin is sitting at the table. I put Mareanie down on the table. "Watch her please." I tell Robin.

I scramble the eggs, butter the toast, and start flipping pancakes all before Dylan wakes up and sleepily walks down the stairs and into the hallway where I first see him.

"Hey Dylan! How did you sleep?" I ask cheerfully. He just looks at me with sleep filled eyes and sits down at the table next to Robin, looking up at her with a lopsided grin. He leans on her side and then closes his eyes again. Robin looks at me and smirks. "Oh shush Robin. I already know he loves you more then me.

Even though I've done this about a million times before, I always stick out my tongue in concentration when I'm taking the pancakes from the pan to the plate with the spatula. I can see Robin chuckling when she sees me struggling to put the pancake on the plate without burning myself. I take a deep breath and try not to yell at her angrily because she knows that if I do, I will undoubtedly drop the pancake, and she will make me eat it.

The happy sound of the pancake flopping onto the plate relieves all of the previous tension that was built up inside me, until I realise I have three more small pancakes on the pan to transfer to the plate. I sigh angrily and Robin can't take it anymore. She laughs loudly, stirring Dylan from his dazed state.

"Skylar, are you sure you don't need any help with that?" She says between giggles.

"Yes." I mumble under my breath, quickly transferring another pancake to the plate.

"Are you _suure_?" She teases.

"Yes!" I have to concentrate on Robin and the pancakes now, but I manage to get another one onto the plate. Only one more to go.

"Are you… _suuuuuuuuuuuuuure_?"

"YES!" I yell successfully dropping the fourth pancake on the ground. I glare at it, and then at Robin, and then back at it. I hear Robin evilly laughing as she picks up the pancake and sets it on the table.

"Do I really have to eat it?" I ask sadly. She nods quickly and I frown. Luckily, Mareanie saves me. She bounces over and quickly and scoops up the floor-pancake in her mouth and chomps down on it. Robin glares.

"Why do you have to ruin my fun Mareanie?" She crosses her arms.

" _Mareaaanie, Mareaaanie, Mareaaanie._ " She chants happily as she bounces around the table.

"And this, is why I keep you around." I say as I pick her up and sit down, setting the plate of pancakes on the table. "Robin can you grab the eggs off of the stove and the toast out of the toaster?" She walks toward that area of the kitchen and starts grabbing them.

"Did you really need to tell me where to grab the toast from? I mean, honestly do you think I'm that dumb?"

"Yes." I cast an evil smirk in her direction as she sets the rest of the food on the table. Dylan is wide awake now, and claps as Robin scoops some eggs onto his plate.

"Do you want some syrup on that?" Robin asks sarcastically.

"No siwwy! You don put siwup on dee eggs! You put deh siwup on dee pancakes dat Skywuh dwopped on dee fwoor!" At this comment Robin breaks out in laughter, and my cheeks turn a bright shade of red.

"Can we just move on from that… _Incident_?" Robin stops laughing, but continues to make little references throughout breakfast. Dylan manages to get at least one portion from each part of breakfast on himself in some way, and I know I'll have to clean him up later. _Maybe I could get Robin to do it._ I quickly shake off the thought while eating another bite of my pancake. There's no way I could convince Robin to clean up my little brother. While she may love him, she would still force me to clean him up, which is kind of my job, but it doesn't mean that I want to do it.

Once we're done eating, I politely ask both Robin and Dylan to put their dishes in the sink, but before I can finish he grabs her hand and pulls her down the hall and up the stairs where she will be forced to play 'trains' with him. I sigh and clean up the entire table myself, including Dylan's chair, which is covered in little crumbs of food that he spilled all over himself and the chair.

* * *

I close Dylan's door and walk down the stairs quietly. I walk straight towards the door and open it, where Robin is waiting for me outside.

"Did you leave Blissey with him?" She asks. I nod.

"He should be fine until we get back." She smiles.

"Okay then. Bet you can't beat me to our place!" She says quickly as she bolts off into the forest. Her perfectly beautiful hair flows behind her as she runs and my heart skips a beat. I quickly shake off the feeling and run after her. She knows she'll get there first. I stop for a second when I hear a small voice behind me.

"Mareanie?" I turn around. She is standing in the doorway. I sigh and walk towards her.

"If you come with me, you're going to be sitting on my shoulder while I'm running. You okay with that?" She shakes her head.

"Mareanie." I look at her, confused.

"You just wanted to make sure I was okay? Why?" She just smiles and then nudges me away. I'm still weirded out, but I continue to walk away until I break into a sprint. Even though I can no longer see Robin in the thick forest, but I know where she went. I see our symbols on the trees where we put them so we could always find where our secret spot in the forest was. I don't need them anymore. I've traveled this path so many times.

The forest starts to thin out, and I can see her sitting on top of the huge rock that we've named 'our spot' that sits in the middle of the forest. Sometimes we sit on top of it, and sometimes we managed to crawl under it into the small cave that is hidden under the rock. The wind just starts to pick up as I make my way on top of the rock where she sits.

"Took you long enough," Robin says with a crooked grin.

"Mareanie stopped me. I swear she is intent on keeping me away from you."

"Are you sure about that?"

"What do you mean Robin?"

"I don't know," she says, pushing her hair out of her face. "she just seems weird when I'm around you, but I don't think she hates me." I shake my head in confusion. I have no clue what she means. The wind is really starting to pick up now. A few droplets of rain are falling to the ground.

"Mareanie's really weird. I don't think that any human being could understand how Mareanie actually works. Even I can't start to understand her." I sit down next to her and lean my head on her shoulder. This usually happens, and the silence is comfortable as always. Even as the gentle storm gets stronger, we don't leave. I don't want to.

A huge crash in the distance makes us both jump. I hear muffled screaming in the distance, but only from a few voices.

"What was that?!" She asks. I squint over the trees and see the top of a grey old tree, fallen down on top of something. A moment of realization hits me like a bullet.

"Is that the Grandpa tree?!" I scream. Robin gasps as I jump off of our rock and run off into the forest, going as fast as possible. I don't think about Robin, or anything else. Dylan and Mareanie are the only things running through my mind at this moment. I trip over a fallen branch, but get up as soon as I fall. It doesn't matter. Nothing does as this moment. I'm out of breath, but I keep running. But do I really want to see what might meet me at my destination?

The answer is no. The answer is _always_ no.


End file.
